Can gold do a tomato?
Asked whether gold demand would spike with the RBI’s September-end deadline for ₹2000 note withdrawal nearing, Somasundaram PR, Regional CEO, India, World Gold Council, in a recent meet said there was bit of kneejerk reaction to buy gold when it was announced but it did not persist as few investigations initiated during ₹1000 demonetisation in 2016 is still going on and adventurous buyers have turned risk averse.
“I think people with ₹2000 notes will do well to buy tomatoes than gold since it can easily be easily dealt in cash,” he said. Only time will tell whether the yellow metal can turn red hot again like tomatoes.
CCI inquorate again ?
Competition law practitioners are a worried lot. After a seven-month hiatus, things started moving since May this year under the new CCI Chairman Ravneet Kaur.
However, with impending superannuation of one of the two CCI Members on August 22, the CCI is all set to become inquorate again (fall below requisite number of three) if the Centre does not appoint Member to the Competition watchdog in next two weeks. Competition law practitioners — who were “unemployed” for seven months — are jittery that they may again be left without any work (like in those seven months when CCI had no quorum).
One competition law practitioner cheekily put it that it is an “existential crisis” for the competition law bar! The seven-month hiatus had affected the “billing” on competition law side that some lawyers have taken a professional call of diversifying into insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) practice, which thankfully is recession proof.
Science, myth and religion
Kerala Legislative Assembly speaker AN Shamseer would have never thought his remarks on Lord Ganesha made at a school function in Ernakulam would land him in trouble. He had apparently mentioned in his speech to students about alleged attempts to connect myths with Hindu religion rather than highlighting to them achievements made by science.
The BJP and Hindu outfits including the Nair Service Society (NSS) were up in arms, seeking an apology from the Speaker saying his comments had hurt devotees’ sentiments.
The NSS went one step ahead by observing a Faith Day on August 2, appealing to community members to offer Ganapathi Homam at temples across the state.
But Shamseer has hardly relented, saying science is fact and has to be accepted as such. Promoting its achievements doesn’t hurt any religious faith.
Monsoon holiday calls
Heavy rainfall had impacted several parts of Dakshina Kannada district a few days ago, and the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, Mullai Muhilan, was the one who was getting numerous calls from stakeholders concerned. However, some late-night and early-morning calls were from an unexpected segment of society – that was from students.
In a recent meet-the-press event, he said that many students were calling him asking if they have holiday (due to rainfall), even though there was no red alert in the district. Muhilan said he was attending every call that he got considering the situation in the district.
It is to be noted here that many of the WhatsApp groups get flooded with queries by parents asking whether there is a holiday next day due to rain. Yes, heavy rains make both parents and students think of one thing — holiday. Our Bureaus